Effective date: This final rule becomes effective on January 17, 2017. Some requirements in the final rule have compliance dates after the effective date. For further information on those compliance dates, see Section XI of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section. In addition, this final rule contains information collections subject to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act, and the Department is submitting requests to OMB to obtain that approval. The information collections will not take effect until the date OMB approves the information collection request or the date the requirement would take effect as explained elsewhere in this document. The Department will publish a document in the Federal Register to announce OMB's disposition of the information collection requests.

29 CFR Part 1910

Summary

OSHA is revising and updating its general industry standards on walking-working surfaces to prevent and reduce workplace slips, trips, and falls, as well as other injuries and fatalities associated with walking-working surface hazards. The final rule includes revised and new provisions addressing, for example, fixed ladders; rope descent systems; fall protection systems and criteria, including personal fall protection systems; and training on fall hazards and fall protection systems. In addition, the final rule adds requirements on the design, performance, and use of personal fall protection systems. The final rule increases consistency between the general industry and construction standards, which will make compliance easier for employers who conduct operations in both industry sectors. Similarly, the final rule updates requirements to reflect advances in technology and to make them consistent with more recent OSHA standards and national consensus standards. OSHA has also reorganized the requirements and incorporated plain language in order to make the final rule easier to understand and follow. The final rule also uses performance-based language whenever possible to give employers greater compliance flexibility.

OSHA published a final rule on occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica on March 25, 2016 which became effective on June 23, 2016. This document corrects typographical errors in the final rule by revising these sections.

Final rule; Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval of collections of information.

Effective July 26, 2016.

29 CFR Parts 1910, 1915, and 1926

Summary

This rule is a technical amendment announcing that OMB has approved the collections of information contained in OSHA's standards for Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica and revising OSHA's regulations to reflect that approval. The OMB approval number is 1218-0266.

This final rule becomes effective on April 25, 2016. The incorporation by reference of certain standards listed in the rule was approved by the Director of the Federal Register as of April 25, 2016.

29 CFR Parts 1910, 1915, 1917, 1918, and 1926

Summary

On March 13, 2015, OSHA published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to revise its eye and face protection standards for general industry, shipyard employment, marine terminals, longshoring, and construction by updating the references to national consensus standards approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). OSHA received no significant objections from commenters and therefore is adopting the amendments as proposed. This final rule updates the references in OSHA's eye and face standards to reflect the most recent edition of the ANSI/International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) eye and face protection standard. It removes the oldest-referenced edition of the same ANSI standard. It also amends other provisions of the construction eye and face protection standard to bring them into alignment with OSHA's general industry and maritime standards.

The final rule is effective on June 23, 2016. Start-up dates for specific provisions are set in § 1910.1053(l) for general industry and maritime and in § 1926.1153(k) for construction.

29 CFR Parts 1910, 1915, and 1926

Summary

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is amending its existing standards for occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica. OSHA has determined that employees exposed to respirable crystalline silica at the previous permissible exposure limits face a significant risk of material impairment to their health. The evidence in the record for this rulemaking indicates that workers exposed to respirable crystalline silica are at increased risk of developing silicosis and other non-malignant respiratory diseases, lung cancer, and kidney disease. This final rule establishes a new permissible exposure limit of 50 micrograms of respirable crystalline silica per cubic meter of air (50 μg/m 3 ) as an 8-hour time-weighted average in all industries covered by the rule. It also includes other provisions to protect employees, such as requirements for exposure assessment, methods for controlling exposure, respiratory protection, medical surveillance, hazard communication, and recordkeeping. OSHA is issuing two separate standards—one for general industry and maritime, and the other for construction—in order to tailor requirements to the circumstances found in these sectors.

This document corrects the electrical safety-related work practices standard for general industry and the electric power generation, transmission, and distribution standards for general industry and construction to provide additional clarification regarding the applicability of the standards to certain operations, including some tree trimming work that is performed near (but that is not on or directly associated with) electric power generation, transmission, and distribution installations. This document also corrects minor errors in two minimum approach distance tables in the general industry and construction standards for electric power generation, transmission and distribution work.

This is a list of United States Code sections, Statutes at Large, Public Laws, and Presidential Documents, which provide rulemaking authority for this CFR Part.

Effective date: This final rule becomes effective on January 17, 2017. Some requirements in the final rule have compliance dates after the effective date. For further information on those compliance dates, see Section XI of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section. In addition, this final rule contains information collections subject to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act, and the Department is submitting requests to OMB to obtain that approval. The information collections will not take effect until the date OMB approves the information collection request or the date the requirement would take effect as explained elsewhere in this document. The Department will publish a document in the Federal Register to announce OMB's disposition of the information collection requests.

29 CFR Part 1910

Summary

OSHA is revising and updating its general industry standards on walking-working surfaces to prevent and reduce workplace slips, trips, and falls, as well as other injuries and fatalities associated with walking-working surface hazards. The final rule includes revised and new provisions addressing, for example, fixed ladders; rope descent systems; fall protection systems and criteria, including personal fall protection systems; and training on fall hazards and fall protection systems. In addition, the final rule adds requirements on the design, performance, and use of personal fall protection systems. The final rule increases consistency between the general industry and construction standards, which will make compliance easier for employers who conduct operations in both industry sectors. Similarly, the final rule updates requirements to reflect advances in technology and to make them consistent with more recent OSHA standards and national consensus standards. OSHA has also reorganized the requirements and incorporated plain language in order to make the final rule easier to understand and follow. The final rule also uses performance-based language whenever possible to give employers greater compliance flexibility.

Submit comments to this proposal, including comments to the information collection (paperwork) requirements, by December 6, 2016.

29 CFR Part 1910

Summary

OSHA is proposing to add two modified PortaCount® quantitative fit-testing protocols to its Respiratory Protection Standard. The proposed protocols would apply to employers in general industry, shipyard employment, and the construction industry. Both proposed protocols are variations of the existing OSHA-accepted PortaCount® protocol, but differ from it by the exercise sets, exercise duration, and sampling sequence. If approved, the modified PortaCount® protocols would be alternatives to the existing quantitative fit-testing protocols already listed in an appendix of the Respiratory Protection Standard. In addition, OSHA is proposing to amend an appendix to clarify that PortaCount® fit test devices equipped with the N95-Companion TM Technology are covered by the approved PortaCount® protocols.

Submit comments and hearing requests by December 5, 2016. All submissions must bear a postmark or provide other evidence of the submission date.

29 CFR Parts 1904, 1910, 1915, and 1926

Summary

In response to the President's Executive Order 13563, “Improving Regulations and Regulatory Review,” the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is continuing its efforts to remove or revise outdated, duplicative, unnecessary, and inconsistent requirements in its safety and health standards. The current review, the fourth in this ongoing effort, is called Standards Improvement Project-Phase IV (SIP-IV). The goal of the proposed rulemaking is to reduce regulatory burden while maintaining or enhancing employees' safety and health. SIP-IV focuses primarily on OSHA's construction standards.

OSHA published a final rule on occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica on March 25, 2016 which became effective on June 23, 2016. This document corrects typographical errors in the final rule by revising these sections.

Final rule; Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) approval of collections of information.

Effective July 26, 2016.

29 CFR Parts 1910, 1915, and 1926

Summary

This rule is a technical amendment announcing that OMB has approved the collections of information contained in OSHA's standards for Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica and revising OSHA's regulations to reflect that approval. The OMB approval number is 1218-0266.

Stakeholder meeting: The stakeholder meeting will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday, July 13, 2016. Deadline for registering to participate in or observe the stakeholder meeting: You must submit (postmark, send, transmit) your registration by Friday, July 1, 2016. If space remains after the deadline, OSHA may allow additional participants and observers. Individuals who submit their registration after July 1, 2016, may not receive confirmation from OSHA and should contact Ms. Amy Wangdahl (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT ) to confirm space is available.

29 CFR Part 1910

Summary

OSHA invites interested parties to participate in an informal stakeholder meeting concerning tree care operations on July 13, 2016, in Washington, DC. This meeting is a continuation of OSHA's information collection on tree care operations. OSHA plans to use the information gathered at this meeting, together with other information in the record, to explore the possible development of a proposed standard to protect workers from hazards, fatalities, and injuries in tree care operations.

This final rule becomes effective on April 25, 2016. The incorporation by reference of certain standards listed in the rule was approved by the Director of the Federal Register as of April 25, 2016.

29 CFR Parts 1910, 1915, 1917, 1918, and 1926

Summary

On March 13, 2015, OSHA published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to revise its eye and face protection standards for general industry, shipyard employment, marine terminals, longshoring, and construction by updating the references to national consensus standards approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). OSHA received no significant objections from commenters and therefore is adopting the amendments as proposed. This final rule updates the references in OSHA's eye and face standards to reflect the most recent edition of the ANSI/International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) eye and face protection standard. It removes the oldest-referenced edition of the same ANSI standard. It also amends other provisions of the construction eye and face protection standard to bring them into alignment with OSHA's general industry and maritime standards.

The final rule is effective on June 23, 2016. Start-up dates for specific provisions are set in § 1910.1053(l) for general industry and maritime and in § 1926.1153(k) for construction.

29 CFR Parts 1910, 1915, and 1926

Summary

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is amending its existing standards for occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica. OSHA has determined that employees exposed to respirable crystalline silica at the previous permissible exposure limits face a significant risk of material impairment to their health. The evidence in the record for this rulemaking indicates that workers exposed to respirable crystalline silica are at increased risk of developing silicosis and other non-malignant respiratory diseases, lung cancer, and kidney disease. This final rule establishes a new permissible exposure limit of 50 micrograms of respirable crystalline silica per cubic meter of air (50 μg/m 3 ) as an 8-hour time-weighted average in all industries covered by the rule. It also includes other provisions to protect employees, such as requirements for exposure assessment, methods for controlling exposure, respiratory protection, medical surveillance, hazard communication, and recordkeeping. OSHA is issuing two separate standards—one for general industry and maritime, and the other for construction—in order to tailor requirements to the circumstances found in these sectors.

Informal public hearing. The hearing will begin on March 21, 2016 at 2 p.m., local time. If necessary, the hearing will continue from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., local time, on subsequent days, in Washington, DC. The original public hearing start date of February 29, 2016 is withdrawn.

29 CFR Parts 1910, 1915, and 1926

Summary

OSHA is rescheduling the informal public hearing on its proposed rule “Occupational Exposure to Beryllium and Beryllium Compounds.” The public hearing will now begin on Monday March 21, 2016 at 2 p.m., local time. The public hearing notice was published in the Federal Register on December 30, 2015. The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on August 7, 2015 and the 90-day public comment period ended on November 5, 2015. The December 30, 2015 Federal Register notice of informal public hearing describes the procedures that will govern this hearing http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=OSHA-H005C-2006-0870-1706. All other information from this Federal Register notice remains the same.

Informal public hearing. The hearing will begin on February 29, 2016 at 2 p.m. If necessary, the hearing will continue from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., local time, on subsequent days, in Washington, DC.

29 CFR Parts 1910, 1915, and 1926

Summary

OSHA is scheduling an informal public hearing on its proposed rule “Occupational Exposure to Beryllium and Beryllium Compounds.” The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on August 7, 2015 and the 90-day public comment period ended on November 5, 2015. This document describes the procedures that will govern this hearing.

This document corrects the electrical safety-related work practices standard for general industry and the electric power generation, transmission, and distribution standards for general industry and construction to provide additional clarification regarding the applicability of the standards to certain operations, including some tree trimming work that is performed near (but that is not on or directly associated with) electric power generation, transmission, and distribution installations. This document also corrects minor errors in two minimum approach distance tables in the general industry and construction standards for electric power generation, transmission and distribution work.

Written comments. Written comments, including comments on the information collection determination described in Section IX of the preamble (OMB Review under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995), must be submitted (postmarked, sent, or received) by November 5, 2015. Informal public hearings. The Agency will schedule an informal public hearing on the proposed rule if requested during the comment period. The location and date of the hearing, procedures for interested parties to notify the Agency of their intention to participate, and procedures for participants to submit their testimony and documentary evidence will be announced in the Federal Register if a hearing is requested.

29 CFR Part 1910

Summary

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposes to amend its existing exposure limits for occupational exposure in general industry to beryllium and beryllium compounds and promulgate a substance-specific standard for general industry regulating occupational exposure to beryllium and beryllium compounds. This document proposes a new permissible exposure limit (PEL), as well as ancillary provisions for employee protection such as methods for controlling exposure, respiratory protection, medical surveillance, hazard communication, and recordkeeping. In addition, OSHA seeks comment on a number of alternatives, including a lower PEL, that could affect construction and maritime, as well as general industry.